Probably everyone knows that openAccess is a layout database. It was originally developed at Cadence (called Genesis) but has since been transferred to Si2. Strictly speaking, openAccess is actually an API and the database is a reference implementation. The code is licensed under a sort of halfway to open-source: you can use … Read More
Author: Paul McLellan
The Secret of Analog Design
Everybody knows that digital designers run on pizza and soda, what one might describe as poor food and weak drinks. At DAC in San Diego I discovered a restaurant that gave away the secret to analog design. And you thought it was a good layout editor and a good circuit simulator. But it turns out that the secret to analog is good food and… Read More
Going to DAC? There’s an app for that
Are you going to DAC in San Diego? Do you have an iPhone? In which case Bill Deegan’s dac48 app is something you should install before you get there. It’s free, which makes a nice change from EDA software pricing.
The app substitutes for the various paper, agendas and maps that you need to consult to find exhibitors, check… Read More
FPGA Prototypes Made Easy
FPGA-based prototype boards are a fast, cost-effective platform for SoC system validation but they are notoriously difficult to set up and to debug. There is a big upside, however, allowing early software integration and testing and thus finding bugs in both the software and the SoC earlier. This approach is much cheaper than … Read More
Analyzing and Planning Electro-static Discharge (ESD) Protection
ESD has historically been a big problem analyzed with ad-hoc approaches. As explained earlier, this is no longer an adequate way to plan nor signoff ESD protection.
Pathfinder is the first full-chip comprehensive ESD planning and verification solution. It is targeted to address limitations in today’s methodologies.… Read More
Electro-static Discharge (ESD)
Electro-static discharge (ESD) has been a problem since the beginning of IC production. Chips function on power supplies of up to a few volts (depending on the era) whereas ESD voltages are measured in the thousands of volts. When you reach out for your car door handle and a spark jumps across, that is ESD. If you were touching a chip… Read More
How Good is Your Verification?
The traditional way for analyzing the effectiveness of testing in the software world and in the RTL world is code coverage. Make sure that every line of code is executed. This is a pretty crude measure since even 100% code coverage doesn’t mean that all the condition has really been tested but it is certainly necessary–after… Read More
SOC Realization: How Chips Are Really Designed
If you just casually peruse most marketing presentations by EDA companies, you’d come to the conclusion most SoCs are designed from scratch, wrestlilng the monster to the ground with bare hands. But the reality is that most SoCs consist of perhaps 90% IP blocks (many of them memories). That still leaves the remaining 10% … Read More
40nm to 28nm Migration Success Story
The problem:To move dual-port SRAM library and macros from a 40nm process to a 28nm process. In addition to all the changes between two different foundry processes, the 28nm rules are disruptive and incompatible with the previous rules. The memory corecells (foundry-specific) would also need to be completely replaced.
Current… Read More
Intel’s 22nm Process. Atom, ARM, Apple
Intel had a big press event yesterday at which they announced details of their 22nm process. In a change from their current processes, it goes with a vertical gate. In fact 3 gates which gives them much better control of leakage through transistors that are switched off, along with more transmission through the on transistors. They… Read More
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